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help needed on how to make a rock retaining wall and sealed with concrete? Answered

well, my front yard is currently supported by piles of rocks where there is a ditch next to it, however only when there is heavy rainfall that the water passes through the ditch otherwise its empty. The piles of rocks were placed one onto the other and these were never mortared and neither has a good base. So, I have a huge amount of stones in my yard that I wanted to get rid of and also the quality of the soil where I live is very poor as it is like mortar when humid and blocks of soil when dry which I was thinking of using as backfilling. My question is how can I use the existing rocks to rebuild the retaining wall well, solid and also have a good look. By the way I live in Mauritius where the climate is humid and I live rather close to a mountain and river and the rocks are lava rocks meaning very hard. Please give me instructions on how to make everything from building the trench to finishing the wall and the tools that will be needed. thanks

4 Replies

Dig a small trench where you want the base of the wall and fill it with sand as a base. Tamp it down real good so its nice and compact. Then mix up some concrete and poor it out over the sand footing and start pressing rocks into it. Then keep laying out concrete on top of the stones and place the next ones on top. Do your best to fit the stones as close together as you can. It will be helpful to have a good heavy hammer and a stone chisel to help shape the stones to fit together better.

The trench doesn't need much. Just fill it with the rocks so the water won't erode anything away. If you want it stable for walking across then cover the rocks in concrete or just do the whole trench in concrete.

Hi, thanks very much for the information however I'm a bit confused when you say that I can make the whole trench in concrete and adding rocks to it.Do I need to pour concrete in the whole trench and wait for it to dry at least a day or can I immediately add the rocks on the freshly poured concrete. Also I did ask the people who actually build these walls they told me that the rocks that are available at my place are very difficult to work with as these are very tough and also since it will be a retaining wall they've told me to build the wall little by little and keep the same height everywhere and don't place the rocks flat as bricks, also it is required to cut water pipes (or other materials) and add to the wall at different location to allow water to go through.I forgot to mention that the wall will be quite a long and tall with the following dimensions:Length 20 feetHeight 6 feet